Week Ending March 11

Mon - 5 miles (1,000') easy. A quick and early loop on the Falls trail before scooting off to Boulder for the Pearl gathering.

Tues - early AM: 6.5 miles (~1,400') stumbling. After a vigorous tequila-fueled session on the dance floor, the unwise decision was made to attempt a summit of Green at 1:00 in the morning. It was, after all, splendidly nice out. I won't name names, but a good percentage of the Pearl team and a journo who runs long distances were in attendance for this most foolhardy of missions, which ultimately ended in defeat at the top of Saddle Rock. A lack of lights, traction and oomph were to blame; Ranger/Flagstaff was the escape route.
AM: 10 miles (~1,500') hungover. Three hours of sleep and a nasty hangover for the jaunt out on the Mesa Trail towards NCAR for PI photos and other misc marketing stuff. Only the journo failed to get out of bed. Grabbed a few more miles here and there throughout the morning. 

Weds: 7.5 miles (1,800'). Falls - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Soderberg. Easy cruise, beautiful afternoon. 

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,200') progression. Out and back on Bluesky/Indian Summer with Pete, Slush, Mike, Sarah, Celeste, Ziggy, Mary and Steph. Controlled tempo over last four from Rim Rock.
PM: 7 miles (1,700') Towers. Nice evening out with a beautiful full orange moon to the east on the way back down. Went up in a very controlled 34:05. 

Fri - AM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop early. 

Sat - AM: 26 miles (4,000') race. Salida Marathon.

Sun - AM: 15.5 miles easy. Super early at Pineridge and on the bike paths with Sarah, Nicole Callan & Nikole Johns. Fun to run with a group of competitive and talented women.    
PM: 5 miles (1,500') hiking. To the top of Horsetooth with the family, Sarah, Ryan and their boys. Carrying Stella up and down the mountain was, I think, the toughest workout of the weekend. Beat.

Top H'tooth with the family.

Total: 98.5 miles (13,600')

Didn't quite get the run in that I was looking for on Sunday, but I was still happy with how good my legs felt. Salida, as always, was a great little getaway. I love the town, the peaks and the overall camaraderie of the race. And the family always enjoys the area too. Just bummed we didn't find the time for a soak in the hot springs on the way home.

Looking forward to this upcoming weekend. I'm excited to race a road 5k on Saturday and then banging out 35 miles of Horseooth Reservoir circumnavigation (the long way) on Sunday, before hanging out and kicking back with friends and family over beers and burgers. The weather forecast is looking great, the trails are essentially clear of snow and ice, and spring is most assuredly in the air. Train leaves at 8:00.

Had a ton of fun at the Pearl gathering last week. The company has some really exciting stuff going on right now. The new 2013 'Ultra' apparel line really blew me away, and while we don't have samples to put on our feet just yet, the new 2013 shoe concept looks like it could be a game changer. More on that as it evolves.

Exciting stuff going on with other sponsors too. After listening closely to Robert from First Endurance, I realized that I still have a ton of work to do in figuring out the whole fueling thing. Fortunately, Robert has looked at all the research and produced some of the best products on the market. He is firmly of the opinion that the best fueling strategy for endurance events is a liquid one, so I ran my race at Salida this weekend fueled entirely on EFS drink. Energy was great, and not even close to any cramp issues (EFS has by far the highest concentration of electrolytes of any sports drink on the market), but damn it's sweet. I need to play with my dilution levels to cut the sweetness and then supplement calories with Liquid Shot, I think. More experimentation required.

Anyway, for the liquid diet, the optimal caloric dilution rate according to the research is 8%. This means 36 oz of EFS drink per hour (which seems unlikely), or the same amount of water/diluted EFS supplemented with the necessary EFS Liquid Shot to hit 300 calories per hour. Not enough fluids/too many calories and stomach issues come into play. Simply put, I need to consume more fluids in races, as I don't even come close to getting that volume in per hour. And that will take a focused effort if I want to avoid the coke-for-the-last-40-miles routine.

The other exciting presentation was from Dale at Highgear who was showing off the company's entry into the GPS market. The XT7's GPS capabilities include mileage accumulation, real time pacing, upload and download of waypoints, 8 hour battery life and probably a bunch of other stuff I haven't figured out yet. All this comes in addition to a barometric altimeter for accurate vert readings all packaged in a sleek watch. While I would never shell out $250 for a watch, I understand that this represents very good value.

Salida Marathon

This was my fourth straight year running the Salida Marathon, a race that offers up a nice early season test of fitness on a challenging higher altitude course that typically takes place on trails and roads that are largely clear of snow. The course had been tweaked again this year to include a new six-mile section of snaking singletrack on the front end. This replaced a fair portion of the 'Ute Trail,' a long railroad-graded dirt road that on the original course took runners out to the ghost town of Turret. As it turned out we would only run a few miles on the Ute Trail on the new course, with the road out to Turret having been cut out altogether.

While the course changes they've made at Salida over the past two years are all good improvements in terms of the running experience, I'm a fan of picking a course and sticking to it so times and performances are comparable through the years. There has been a really good history of runners at Salida in the six or seven years that they've been running it, so it has always been a good yardstick to measure yourself against. If I had to guess, I'd say the new course is six or seven minutes slower than the original and three to four slower than last year's. Not that anyone really cares.  

So the race got out much the same as it has in years past, with Timmy Parr assuming the lead behind a handful of half marathoners through an uptempo early couple of miles. My legs felt astoundingly flat and plain old heavy almost as soon as we started running. This of course is never a good sign, so I chose to sit back off the lead to see if I could warm things up a bit before we started the big climb to the course's high point at 9,000 feet.

Tucking into the Tenderfoot Mountain switchbacks, I could see there were three half marathoners, Timmy, Jason Koop and two others I didn't recognize ahead of me, with Rob Kosick - who had beaten me twice on the same day in Estes Park in January - close behind. I ducked in behind Jason and followed his heels up the initial singletrack climb, passing second and third along the way. At the first aid I went around Jason and set about chasing down Timmy who had built a bit of a lead by the time we started a rolling traverse on tight singletrack across a number of gullies.

Early in the climb, with a couple of the Collegiate Peaks in the rear view.

The traverse took us over to the Ute Trail and back on to the old course. I saw Timmy run through the aid station there and timed his lead at 40 seconds. On the road my legs still felt terrible, as if I'd had a really heavy dose of vertical the day before, so I resigned myself to grinding away at what felt like a pitifully poor pace. On the four miles up to the 9,000 foot turnaround, I watched Timmy extend his lead by half a minute or so, before suddenly seeing it shrink to next to nothing in less than a mile. We hit the 12.5 mile turnaround essentially together, chatted for a bit, and then I assumed the lead as we descended the mile or so to the 181/173 jeep track turn.

The shaded sections of the jeep track were about average in terms of snow coverage, but it was decently packed so the running was pretty good for the most part. My legs opened up a bit through the rolling terrain and after a few miles of occasional shoulder checking on sections that afforded a bit of a view, I figured that I had a lock on the race. I put the run into steady mode and started thinking about Sunday's run.

At mile 20, it was a left turn off the rocky jeep trail and on to the new section of super-twisty singletrack from last year. My legs were starting to feel a little tired, but at the same time as open as they had all day. On the last big climb of the course, with perhaps five miles to go, I checked down the switchbacks and all of a sudden saw Jason. Ughh. He can't have been much more than a minute behind, which of course meant that I needed to refocus and push.

I was glad to find the required gear and be able to move quickly enough over the remaining miles to chalk my first win in Salida. I've always enjoyed this tough little season opener, so couldn't be happier to finally get my name up there on the winners' board. I ended up running about five minutes slower than last year, which is probably an equal effort given the course changes. I definitely felt more in control this weekend, as I remember struggling last year through the closing miles when trying to hold off Dan Vega for second.

I'll take that as a positive and see what two upcoming test-pieces have in store over the next few weeks. First up on Saturday is a speed test, with 5k of road racing at the St Paddy's Day run where I'm really hoping to register something in the low 16s, and then in April it will be the Lake Sonoma 50 miler, which promises to be quite the race.

And finally, for those keeping score at home, my margin of victory over Brownie this year was a full 75 minutes. So despite giving him a generous 45-minute handicap, I again walked away with free beer. Last year it took Brownie 10 months to make good on his debt, but this year there was an immediate post-race pay off with a nice growler of Irish Red from the famed Moonlight Pizza. Next year he gets 75 minutes.

Week Ending March 4

Monday - Noon: 7.5 miles (1,800') easy. Beautiful day out, which was hugely refreshing after the wind lashing we received last week. Jogged up to top of Horsetooth and spent some time lingering on the summit checking out the lay of the land, putting names to a few more peaks that until Sunday's peakbagging outing were nameless to me (Buckhorn, Leila and Ethel). Conditions up top are starting to get pretty sketchy on the ice front, but definitely seen it worse. Up Rock trail, down Audra/Southridge, home long. 
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Quick Falls loop before Dana took off for work.

Tues - AM: 10.5 miles intervals. Cemetery workout with Jane's group: mile, 3x800 (on 20 sec rest), mile, 3x800 (on 20 sec rest), mile. Good conditions this morning, high 20s and no wind, so really tried to keep the effort honest the whole way around. First mile felt super smooth, last mile and second set of 800s I had to stay pretty focused. 5:17, (2:40, 2:38, 2:41), 5:14, (2:40, 2:41, 2:41), 5:15.
PM: 10.5 miles (1,500') easy. Milner loop, plus Redstone one mile O@B and neighborhood add-ons.

Weds - Noon: 9 miles (2,100') easy. Horsetooth summit (up Rock, down Audra/Southridge) then some meandering in the neighborhood. Wind was back and angry. Warm out though. 
PM: 6 miles (1,100') easy. Milner loop.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
January: 330 miles (45,200')
February: 445 miles (58,500')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012 Ranked Summits: 
Horsetooth (9)
Palisade
Milner
Alexander
Blue Mountain (Sth)
Green Mountain (7,335)
7,725'
7,098' (Poll Mtn range)
Goat Hill
Reservoir Ridge
7,260 (Ziggy Point)
8,415 (Leila Peak)
Mount Ethel
Buckhorn Mountain
5,740' (1)
5,740' (2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thurs - AM: 15 miles (1,700') hill tempo. 5:30 start for this one, but it was light enough to see by 6:00. The longer days are starting to get me excited for spring, even if it looks like we're going to get an extended wind season this year. So anyway, the usual HTH5MO@B run for this morning, with Steph, Sarah, Celeste, Zig, Pete and Mike in attendance. Pretty big headwind coming out of the north, northwest for the way out, meaning a slower than usual warm-up, but potential for a zippy return. After a low-7 split following Mike's heels over the big north dam hill on the way back, I felt like a sub-30 might be on, so put it into 10k mode for the net uphill second and third miles to see if I could get there without having to beat myself up too badly on the descent over the last mile and a half. Needing just 5:40s for the last two miles, I took them just moderately hard and still came home in a big one-minute, but wind-aided, PR (7:05, 6:00, 5:36, 5:26, 5:03 = 29:11). After Tuesday's workout, which was noticeably better than a similar, but shorter, workout from the end of January, I'm starting to feel like I'm building some really good fitness here. Snagged a few on the front and back ends for a 15-mile morning. Good stuff.
PM: 6.5 miles easy with FCTR folk at Pineridge.

Friday - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. Tired
PM: 5.5 miles (800') easy with Pete on the 'A' trail. Picked up 5,773' or 'Aggie Peak' along the way.

Saturday - AM: 18.5 miles (2,800') peakbaggery. Decided against heading up to Laramie for the rescheduled Trudge (which sounded epic), choosing to check out the Red Mountain Open Space with Mike instead. Goal was three peaks and some quality trail miles, with a pop into Wyoming on the way; reality as usual with these peakbagging missions was a little different. The wind was absolutely howling and given the general lack of cover out in the Red Mountain area, that made for a fairly unpleasant start to the morning.

Northern slope of Table Mountain

By the time we'd bushwhacked our way to the top of Table Mountain (7,074') -- by way of the cactus-infested northern shoulder -- we were both a little wind-shocked. After almost being blown off our feet (quite literally) on the western cap of the summit bluff I pulled the plug on our intended descent route, deciding that the semi-technical nature of the down climb was too sketchy in the freezing cold and powerful swirling winds. Tail between legs, we headed off the gentler west side of Table and back to the trailhead (into a fierce headwind). The plan now was to salvage the day by knocking out a long run on the awesome network of trails in Redstone and Soapstone; wind be damned. However, we were seduced back on peakbagging track after rounding the north side of Table Mtn on the Bent Rock trail and seeing 7,178 to the southwest. Picking up a mix of ranch and game tracks for what we were pretty sure was our intended target, we made our way southwest. An hour later and we were on top enjoying the slightly less violent winds and awesome westerly and easterly views.     

 On top of a windy 7,178

Table Mtn from 7,178'

Southeast from 7,178' towards 6,740'

Retracing our steps from the summit, we cut back north, picking up a more westerly ranch track from the one we had been on heading south, which we hoped would get us close to 7,380' up on the Wyoming border. The approach to 7,380' came a little quicker than we had expected and essentially stopped us in our tracks. The southerly wall was imposing and there was no obvious way up. All of a sudden time was a factor and after scouting around a bit, we decided that we were going to have to come back and get this bad boy another day so we followed the drainage east out of the canyon and back towards Table Mountain and the Red Mountain trail network. The Boxelder drainage offered up some fine scrambling, awesome red rock cuts, the remnants of a lion's feast and all-around atypical northern Colorado scenery - all of which made up for the disappointment of failing on summit three. 

Northern side of the impressive Boxelder Creek.

Roaming around in lower Boxelder Creek; Table Mtn to the east.

There was a lot of game activity in Boxelder Canyon; this guy was dinner and pretty much picked clean.

Once out of Boxelder, we navigated back to the Red Mountain trails. While finishing up the Bent Rock loop we realized that the peak we had been looking at was in fact the wrong one as we had been one drainage too far to the south, so it would have been a wasted effort anyway had we taken a crack at. All in all, a fun morning in a unique corner of Colorado. There is plenty of unfinished peak-grabbing business up there, so I'll be back soon. 

Sunday - AM: 8.5 miles easy. Setting up 12k T&H course. Beautiful morning out.
Noon: 2 miles easy with Alistair to Horsetooth Falls and back. Mud-fest hike/run plus some fun exploring down the creek from the falls.
PM: 7 miles (1,900') Horsetooth summit easy. Dropped Alistair back home and then took off for the peak. Killer weather, warm and sunny, with nary a breath of wind; so refreshing after the beating we've been taking from the wind all week. Peak was about as crowded as I've seen it (outside of an FCTR time trial).

Total: 116.5 miles (11,800')

Felt an odd mix of tired and strong this week. Failed to get the bigger weekend runs in that I was hoping for, but that's alright because I think it will leave me feeling a little fresher for the Salida Marathon next weekend, which I'm really looking forward to. Good people, good competition, fun town.

Week Ending February 26

Mon - AM: 3. 5 miles (1,400') peakbaggery. Went back and did the ranked peak 5,740' by Eden Reservoir that I messed up the day before, after also knocking off one down the road north of Hwy 34 that also tops out at 5,740'. Drove between the two as I was short on time.

5,740' between Masonville Road and Eden Valley.

For the first one, I parked on the north side of Hwy 34 just west of the bikers' tourist store a mile or two before the Big Thompson Narrows in a small pull-off. Cut a line due north straight up the hillside, before cutting northwest around a cliff band and then due east to the summit on a nice ledgy section of the capstone. A quick tag, a look at the views and then hot-footed it down. Up and down in about 20 minutes. Jumped in the car and drove around to County Road 29, parked up near the bridge by the water filtration plant then ran the half mile to the south side of the reservoir. Decided to cut straight up the steep first hillside as I thought I saw a weakness in the cliff band that looked like it would be reasonably easy to negotiate, which it was.

View from first 5,740' of Eden Reservoir, Horsetooth, Milner and first line of hogbacks in front of second 5,740'.

Class three weakness in first cliff band.

Went up the hogback to the north of my target by mistake (went up the one to the south the day before), but quickly turned around when I breached the summit ridge and saw the quarry was in full swing. Ooops. I quickly rectified my error, headed for the small saddle, then stomped up through the snow to finally get 5,740' off my back (third time's a charm).

Hogback to north of 5,740'. Cairn is obscuring the flagstone quarry works.

Came down the west side, back down through the weakness in the cliff band above Eden Valley and back to the car. Just four ranked Larimer County 5'ers left to pick off and three of those are around Horsetooth Reservoir with the other one in Laporte, so I should have them in short order.  
PM: 3 mile hike (600') with the family. Falls loop.

Tuesday - AM: 10 miles intervals. With Jane's group at City Park. Had Chris and Mike to work with again for this one. Felt like we might have taken our foot off the gas a bit in places, but still a good workout on what was a good morning for running. Workout went: mile, 4 x 300 hard (cross country) w/200 medium, fartlek mile (3 x hard, 2 x medium), 1,200 hard, fartlek 1,000 (2 x hard, 1 x medium). Splits: 5:29 (1.04 mile), didn't time the cross country 300's, 5:19 (.98), 3:49 (5:07 pace), 3:15 (5:13)
PM: 7.5 miles (1,300') easy. Milner loop plus neighborhood add-ons.

Weds - Noon: 6.5 miles (1,100') easy. Milner long with neighborhood add-on. Warm and super breezy out. Nice and casual. 
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. Temps in the high 50s and strong winds left a lot of slush and slop on the trails. Major melt today. Running was pretty crap as a result.

Thurs - AM: 11.5 miles (1,400') sketch. Met Celeste, Slush, Tim and Colin for 10 on the Centennial hills. Less than a mile in and it was apparent that this one would be about survival; all thoughts of the usual tempo effort back from the turnaround were dumped. A wet overnight powdering had left a nasty sheet of ice on the road. Skid tracks and busted up fender parts suggested that more than a couple of cars had plowed into the crash barriers on some of the tighter turns and hills. Tim gave up less than a mile in, which was probably a pretty sound decision, but the rest of us persevered. The road doesn't see a whole lot of traffic in the early morning, but for every car that went by I was stopped and either on the other side of the crash barriers or way off the road. Traction was terrible in places, but I was thankful to be running versus trying to maintain control of 5,000 pounds of steel. Back in just under 40 mins for a personal worst, but thankful to be done and in one piece.
PM: 9 miles (1,900') Towers. A mix of drifts, ice and generally crappy footing made this trip up Towers one of my less enjoyable ones, but by no means the worst. Up in 39 and change. Two mile warm up on Shoreline.

Fri - Noon: 9.5 miles (1,500') easy. Milner loop, plus Redstone one mile O@B and neighborhood add-ons.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.

Sat - AM: 22 miles easy (1,400'). Twin Mountain Trudge was postponed as the start area was inaccessible due to heavily drifted snow. This left me with two options: run solo around home or go join friends at sunrise for a Double Bacon Strip (Slush, Sarah, Al_Wesir, Kyle and Alex). Neither sounded that appealing to be honest, as I was ready to go trudge, but I opted for company even if the location left a little to be desired. The Bacon Strip is a ten-mile route east of I-25 (the plains for those not from the Front Range) on rolling dirt county roads. The Double Bacon is a Fort Collins staple among marathon runners, but not something I have ever partaken of before. I've done the Single Bacon a couple of times under race conditions; however, the double as a training run has always sounded miserable. Fortunately good company kept the clock ticking in real time and it turned out to be a fun morning under bluebird conditions. Aside from great mountain views, we were also treated to sightings of a bald eagle and a red tail hawk. Jogged the first lap and a half and then picked it up and ran mid sixes to high fives for the last five miles with Scott. Jogged a couple more at the end for good measure.

Sun - AM: ~ 9 miles sloggin' and peakbaggin' (3,000'). This one was intended as a 22 mile, 5-bag outing but the reality on the ground turned it into a 9-mile, 4-bag frozen slog-fest.

Mike and I started at the crack of dawn heading east up Rist Canyon Road from Stove Prairie Landing to the saddle between Buckhorn Mountain and unnamed peak 8,415'. For the summit, we took CO 41, followed by a short bushwhack to the top. As would be the case for the rest of the morning, the PBWF (Postholing Bushwhack Factor) was high, meaning very, very slow going. After hitting a wrong outcropping to the north of the true summit, it was a quick bop down to the small saddle and back up to the true Buckhorn Mountain summit, which was satisfyingly craggy with nice views to the west out towards the Old Flowers Road area of Roosevelt NF.

Mike on Buckhorn summit.

Unnamed Peak 9,166' (we guessed) to the west from top Buckhorn. That one was on the original agenda for the morning, but quickly dispatched after the slogging started in earnest.

We were quickly back down to Rist and then popped over the road to follow the fire road north for a half mile or so past a few cabins, before cutting northeast over a gully and then up towards the best peak of the morning (8,415'), which Mike is naming Leila (sister of Ethel, his grandmother (?)). The south-facing aspect of the slope left decent sections of rock for us to move over, and we were up in reasonably short order. Big views north and east out to the Poudre Canyon area (nice shot of Greyrock) and also to the west from the rocky summit, which sported a big stick of a marker.
 

Gaining 8,415'.

Mike, Nick & a big stick.

Mount Ethel (8,471') left, sub summit (8,430') right from top 8,415' (Leila).

8,415' descent.

Fom here things became slogworthy in the extreme. We chose the direct northerly route down a class-4 rockfall to get off the summit, while being whipped by the wind and generally freezing all extremities. I could see the sun on the Ethel side of the valley and desperately wanted to be over there, but first there was a long and super-cold session of postholing over rocks, deadfall and other unseen nastiness once we were off the boulders and moving through the trees. I don't think we went much deeper than crotch level all morning, but we were consistently up to our knees in snow.

Almost out of the woods and into the valley between 8,415' (in background) and Ethel. Mike sloggin'.

We finally got into the sun on the southern slope of Mount Ethel and then proceeded to head up the Ethel sub-summit to the right by mistake. From the top in the howling wind, Ethel's true summit looked frustratingly far away across the saddle and I was almost ready to throw in the towel, but we forged on - swimming through snow in places - before finally gaining the wind-blown summit.

Mike finally gaining the true Mount Ethel summit.

Ready to get off the mountain.

Lower Poudre Canyon from top Ethel.

We chose a poor descent route down the big drainage on the western slope of Ethel, which was covered in deadfall under the snow. The 1,400 foot descent was not a quick one, but to our surprise eventually popped us out on Stove Prairie Road, leaving a short mile and a bit back to the car, a good four and half hours after we started; a crankin' 30 minute per mile average.         


Total: 101.5 miles (15,600')

Didn't get a second long run in on Sunday, but I was sufficiently worked after the 4.5 hour slog-fest that it certainly felt like I got a good B2B weekend done. Thinking I'll try and push out another strong mileage week before taking the foot off the gas a bit in the week before the Salida Marathon, which I'll be running for the fourth time this year. Salida is always a great pre-season read on fitness, in addition to a fun all-around weekend. I think Brownie is getting a 45 minute handicap this year.

In the weekly Quad Rock update, we are now sold out, but if you get your name on the wait list there is still a strong chance you'll get in. In other news, Pete and I are super stoked to be bringing on board local craft brewers Pateros Creek as sponsors. Our hosts, Lory State Park, allow only 3.2 beer, so Pateros is complying by brewing us up something a little lighter than their normal fare. It was either that or Nattie Lite, so I think we're coming out ahead on this one.

Week Ending February 19

Mon - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth summit, home long. Got up at the end of the day and the trench wasn't the best, being a bit soft and punchy near the bottom after a warmer day. Upper half was still solid. Took things easy.

Tues - AM: 10.5 miles intervals. Met Jane's group on the first decent Tuesday morning we've had in a while. Temps were in the high 20s and the City Park roads were largely clear of ice. 3.5 mile w-u. 1.5 mile c-d. On tap: mile, 1.5 lamp post fartlek, broken 2 mile (800 medium, 800 hard, repeat), mile. Mike H turned up this morning and pulled me and Chris around the first mile harder than we probably would have otherwise. Splits: 5:16, 8:16, 12:20 (with hard 800s at 2:40 & 2:32, and medium 800s at cop-out pace), 5:15.
PM: 11.5 miles (1,400') easy. Milner loop, plus out & back to 2 mile on Redstone, bench loop at Horsetooth and home long. Took this one nice and easy.

Weds - 11.5 miles (2,600') easy. Milner loop with summit of Horsetooth on the way back. Conditions in the trench are still pretty good for spiked traction, but look like they're about ready to break up with a couple of warmer days in the forecast.

Thurs - AM: 12 miles (1,400') hill tempo. Met up with Celeste, Ziggy, Tim H, and Mike at Maxwell at the appointed HTH5MO&B hour (0 dark & cold 30) and then got sucked into a conversation (and pace) with Tim heading up Spring Creek dam, which meant a slightly faster outbound leg than the usual jog fest (38:24). At the turnaround, I figured I'd notch the effort a bit but generally keep things sane; however, there's no accounting for male ego and Mike sitting on my shoulder the whole way back. Maintained a controlled effort up the north dam hill despite firey, tired quads, before settling into a tempo effort that inevitably started getting out of hand as the run progressed, and ended with a 4:45  last mile shootout with Mike (downhill). Not a return-leg PR (30:31 vs 30:20), but I think an overall PR (68:55) given the faster-than-usual outbound leg. Coming back: 7:24, 6:23, 6:13, 5:43, 4:45 (30:31). Mile w-u/c-d. 
PM: 7 miles easy on the Spring Creek trail with a small group from FCTR.

Fri - Noon: 6.5 miles (1,000') easy. Milner long.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.

Sat - AM: 21 miles (4,000) peakbaggery. Scott and I picked off Larimer County's two lowest ranked peaks as a warm up for lower Rist Canyon's peak 7,260' (aka 'Ziggy Point'), Larimer County's 217th highest ranked peak.

Reservoir Ridge is a very familiar rocky outcropping for anyone in Fort Collins who spends any kind of time out by the northern end of the reservoir. Scott and I run to the base of it most Thursday mornings as the turnaround point of our hill tempo efforts, but oddly enough neither of us had ever taken down the summit. That was remedied 11 minutes after we set off on our merry way from the Reservoir Ridge trailhead at the crack of dawn. So yeah, not a tough peak.

After backtracking, we headed north to Bellevue to take down Goat Hill, which despite being the lowest ranked peak in Larimer County is in fact a most impressive mound. It's a classic Northern Colorado hogback with a very impressive red rock cliff band along its upper west side. We approached from the east, off County Road 23E, and were able to summit without having to hop any fences or gates, or indeed pretend not to see signage. I'm not sure who owns the land, but was glad  to be able to summit hassle free. The way up was scrubby and rocky, but mostly runnable.

'Reservoir Ridge' (5,735') post-run.

Goat Hill (5,603') in October 2009. Larimer County's lowest ranked peak. Image: Dean McCollum (Lists of John)

A quick descent and then it was five miles up Rist Canyon to Pine something Road, which we ascended at a very sharp grade for the first three-quarters of a mile before it mellowed out a bit. Despite being a private road, we had an arrow of an excuse in our quiver if stopped. And about a mile in, Scott pulled out the arrow and fired after we were confronted by a burly-looking mountain man asking us what we were up to and who we were on our way to see.

"Why, Dave Thurlow at the end of the road," Scott said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Scott had apparently been up this road a decade ago to visit his friend's cabin, which at the time was just being framed. He hadn't seen him in years, but used him as our alibi anyway. It was good enough for the now less-zealous mountain man and we were soon on our way, but not before being warned to watch out for a pack of dogs a mile up the road.

The dogs chased us for about a quarter mile, but soon tired of the hunt after we started trudging through deep and crusty pow. We got a view from an outcropping at 7,000 feet and it was clear that our peak was a good ways up the ridge and around a deep gully. We quickly took stock and decided to push on and get it done, despite the apparent mile and a half of trudging and bushwhacking that would be required. On the way, we discussed possible names for our unnamed peak and quickly settled on 'Ziggy Point' after Ziggy the Wunderdog who was at home suffering from what Scott and Celeste believe is autoimmune disease. Hopefully that won't keep him from ascending his namesake mountain some time here in the near future, though.

Ziggy Peak (7,260') is the second forested peak from the right in bottom photo & second one from left in top pic.

The summit slog was ... well ... a slog: steep and slippery but thankfully short-lived at about 600 feet. The top was a fine one with views of upper Rist Canyon, Signal Peak, Stormy Peaks Pass and a Mummy or two to the west, and the other side of Rist Canyon to the south. We descended the 900 feet to the canyon floor in super short order thanks to the stellar snow conditions and then it was eight miles back down the canyon to the cars at Reservoir Ridge. A fine morning and a 100% success rate on the morning's peakbaggery goals. Awesome! 

Sun - AM: 19.5 miles (1,900') easy. Ran down to tag ranked summit 5,740', just east of the south end of Eden Reservoir, but got on the hogback to the south (5,620) by mistake. Doh. Kind of figured I was on the wrong one when I looked north to the correct hogback, but wasn't in the mood and didn't have the time to remedy the error by hoofing it over. What was pleasant however was the run down Eden Valley on County Road 29, which was a first. Ended up heading cross country in a southeasterly direction from the south end of the dam, climbed over a short cliff band on the rim of the first line of hogbacks (due east of the water filtration plant) and then continued southeast (should have been northeast) to the next hogback. Nice views west to Alexander Mountain and east to Devil's Backbone, but looking north it was quite apparent that I was on an inferior peak. Ah well, easily remedied another time. Continued down to the east, skirted someone's driveway and then picked up Masonville Road before cutting east to Glade Road and then north back up to 38e and home.   

Looking east from Alexander Mtn (7,105') to Eden Valley Reservoir with hogbacks directly behind to the east.

Total: 111.5 miles (15,300') 

Week three safely in the books. All systems seem to be firing quite well at the moment and my body appears to be adjusting well to the increased load. Pounded a fair bit of pavement this week, but that's okay. Obviously my preference is trail, but I think I'd rather run road in scenic surroundings than be slogging through slop, ice and drifts on the trails right now. My current weekend M.O. of running roads to fun and new peaks seems to be working well for the time being.

A quick shout out to training partner Sarah Hansen who picked up an impressive third place finish in the Red Hot 55k out in Moab this weekend in what was her first ultra. Looking forward to hearing the play by play on that one, along with all the other stories from the annual Fort Collins pilgrimage to Moab.

Three spots left in the Quad Rock 50 and then we're all sold out. Twin Mountain Trudge next weekend in the wilds of the Laramie High Plains. Brrr.

Week Ending February 12

Mon: 12.5 miles (1,600') steady. Milner Mountain loop + 2 mile out and back on Redstone, mile out and back on Soderberg to Rock trail intersection, home long. Headed out with six miles in mind, but came home with 12.5. Felt great and found myself cruising at an effortless up-tempo effort. Great footing on the trench up Soderberg.

Tues - AM: 10 miles intervals with Jane's group at City Park. Cold and slick out, so no expectations for this workout. On tap: mile, fartlek mile, 1,200, fartlek kilo, 1,200, fartlek kilo, mile. Results: 5:49 (1.05), 5:31, 4:00, 3:30 (with a fall), 4:01, 3:26, 5:42 (1.05). Slid out on the first kilo on the exact same corner (Nick's Corner) where I put a hole and four stitches in my shin last year. Thankfully less damage, but a nice knee shred on my tights that I'll have to patch up. Pretty much had to stop on each corner and restart to avoid going down. 2 mile w-u/c-d.
PM: 6 miles (1,000') easy. Quick Milner loop before picking up Alistair and heading out sledding.

Weds - AM: 7.5 miles (1,300') easy. Milner loop with Soderberg/bench loop add on. Super chilly out in the pre-dawn.
PM: 8.5 miles (1,400') easy. Milner loop with Soderberg/H'tooth loop add on, plus end of Overhill add. A little cranky and tired on this one.

Thurs - AM: 12.5 miles (1,400') hill tempo. Back on the HTH5MO&B horse: out easy to the 5 mile point of the heavily rolling Horsetooth Half course, then back at a tempo effort. Tacked on 1.5 at the front end and a mile at the back end. Out easy with Pete, Slush, Mike, Celeste and Ziggy the Wunderdog, then eased into the return tempo effort with Pete and Slush up the north dam hill, not really rolling until the third mile, and picking up Mike right around the three-mile mark. Felt super sluggish and a bit sore in the legs and lower back, but aerobically felt killer. Out in 41:30, back in 31:54 (7:46, 6:32, 6:12, 6:04, 5:18).
PM: 6 miles (1,700') easy. Straight up and down Horsetooth. Conditions were close to perfect for spiked traction, especially on the descent which I stomped. Still a bit of punch to the cowpath in places, but mainly it's solidly packed and ready for action.

Fri - Noon: 7 miles (1,900') steady. Horsetooth summit, home long. Killer conditions again. Steady up and then blitzed the descent.

Sat - PM: 21.5 miles (2,200') steady. 2:35. The window was short today, so chose to run roads at a steady clip to max out mileage. Ran Redstone Canyon to the end, with an extended Milner loop, and out and back to the end of Overhill. Pushed the Redstone return section, cruised the rest. Legs were tired there towards the end with some groin stuff mixed in, but I think they're just adjusting to the new workload.

Sun - AM: 21 miles (3,500') easy. Ranked peak 7,725'. Launched an assault on 7,725' from my house by way of a road that I didn't know existed until last night. The original plan was to run up to Green Ridge Peak and tag that, but I was pretty sure the Storm Mountain Forest Road off Stove Prairie would be heavily snowed in, so I opted for Otter Road, which leads most of the way to what I am going to call 'Otter Peak'. Otter Road runs the southern section of the ridge that divides Redstone Canyon and Buckhorn Canyon. Otter Peak, while ranked, is a sub-summit of Christ Mountain which is a mile or two further north and a few hundred feet higher.

Anyway, Otter Road begins about 50 feet west of the Masonville Rd/38e junction, and gives access to a neighborhood of mountain homes about 4 miles and 2,000 feet up the ridge. This is a private road, and is clearly posted as such, but I figured I'd run it until told not to. As it turned out, I only passed one car the whole 12 mile out and back and they waved and smiled, so no harm done. The last tracks up the road petered out after about five miles, leaving about a mile and 600 feet of trudging in calf- to thigh-deep pow-pow. Nice top with good views to the west and lines of sight down into Redstone Canyon. Coming back down, the backside views of Horsetooth from on high were phenomenal. Overall, a really good outing on a beautiful morning, and to top it all off my legs felt better finishing up than they did on Saturday. Awesome way to start the day and finish the running week. 

Total: 112.5 miles (14,100')

So this was a good week on the whole. All my running windows essentially stayed open, allowing me to load on the miles a bit. Two weeks in and I am generally feeling good with the extra load. However, there are also the niggling signs that I remember from last year that remind me that carrying this kind of mileage will require some good luck, patience and common sense. Some early morning shuffling has already settled in, my groin is barking a bit on longer runs, the achilles is just starting to make some noise and that dull soreness/tiredness has begun to find its home in the quads. All these things will come and go, wax and wane as the mileage piles on, but hopefully I'll find a way to muck through as I have the last two years in building up for Western States.

Speaking of Western States, I was fortunate enough to be invited down to Boulder last week to check out the movie from the 2010 race. Mr Benna really did a great job piecing it all together and tying in a compelling race narrative. Sitting there watching it, especially as the action was passing through Foresthill before the endless descent to the Middle Fork of the American River, I shuddered a bit and asked myself if I really wanted to put myself through all that trauma again? My immediate thought was, no. Far too painful. But upon reflection, I know that I enjoy the journey too much to let the fitness and durability go to waste.

I will need to keep things interesting this training cycle to maintain high levels of motivation. After my Sunday run, I am happy to report that the training stoke meter is currently at an all time high. I have a ring of ranked peaks within 30 miles (round trip) of my house many of which I am yet to summit, so the short-term plan for upcoming weekends it is to embark on a bunch of long-distance peak-bagging missions, which should keep things reasonably new and fresh. The weekly meat will be a grind at times, but thankfully I have a good circle of running friends with whom to while away the miles. The wheels are in motion, let's hope they lead somewhere good.

Changing tack, there are less than 20 spots left in the Quad Rock 50 which means we'll probably be sold out by the end of the week. Sponsors continue to climb on board, and race prizes now include a mix of cash, Pearl Izumi shoes, Smith Sunglasses, weekend getaways in Estes Park at Active at Altitude, $50 Runners Roost vouchers, and free race entries. There will also be a major schwag fest during the awards raffle, so chances are you'll be going home with something additional to all the other great stuff we're including in the race entry. Oh, and we're going to be holding a kids trail race too, so bring the little guys along and let's get them sweating a bit.

Week Ending Feb 5

Mon - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. 1.5 mile w-u/c-d, then 6 miles of work: 2 x (mile, 800, 1.5 mile) w/2-3 mins between reps. Legs were super heavy from Sunday's 5k, 10k double, plus I wasn't getting full oxygen due to a chesty cold, so did what I could. Ran with Chris M, which helped keep things honest: (5:29, 2:40, 8:19 (w/mile @ 5:28)) (5:24, 2:43, 8:22 (w/mile @ 5:25)).
PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long.

Weds - Noon: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls loop long.
PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls loop long.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
January: 330 miles (45,200')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summits: 
Horsetooth 2
Palisade 1
Milner 1
Alexander 1
Blue Mountain (Sth) 1
Green Mountain (7,335)
7,098' (Poll Mtn range)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thurs - AM: 14 miles tempo. 2 x 4 mile on Spring Creek bike path with Sarah and Mike, with 2 mile w-u/c-d and 2 mile jog between 4 milers. We started from the east side this week, so headed west and up (~200') for the first four miles and back down for the second four. Target was 5:50s both ways. First mile was a bust on the timing as the Mason tunnel was closed, meaning detour and no stopped watch. Will consider that one a 6:00, then 5:55, 5:52, 5:52. Coming back: 5:51, 5:50, 5:47, ~5:50. Had to work a bit going out, but felt good coming back.
PM: 6.5 miles easy with FCTR at Pineridge just as the big snow dump was getting underway. Dead light made things tough, but survived.

Fri: 4 miles (700') snowshoe. I guess winter finally arrived. We got a pelting overnight and through the day. Once I finally got out of the house onto my driveway at noon I was knee deep in fluff. Total sink fest in the snowshoes but headed out to the park anyway. Trudged up to the Horsetooth/Soderberg intersection and then called it a day. The snow up Soderberg was consistently knee deep - easy 20 inches with drifts way higher. First tracks up, but they'll be blown in soon enough. Home long. Gonna be roads for a while, me thinks.

Sat: 20.5 miles (2,100') easy. With Mike and Sarah from my house to end of Redstone Canyon, back on Milner Mountain Ranch, then some extra jogging in the neighborhood to breach the magic 20.

Sun: AM (1): 7 miles easy setting up the Edora Park 8k Tortoise & Hare course.  
AM (2): 5 miles tempo. Ran to the 2 mile point of the T&H course with Slush, who was last off, at 6 min pace. Back at the same pace, then one mile cool down after everyone was in and results tabulated.
PM: 11 miles (2,500') easy. Milner Mountain loop with Horsetooth summit, home long. Unbelievably nice afternoon and perfect scheduling hole meant that I was out the door in search of miles in the flash of a pan. Paced off a few quick ones on Milner then hit the Horsetooth trench for the summit push. For the most part it was packed down beautifully, but the afternoon sun had softened things up enough that it was annoyingly punchy in places. Wore the XTRs, but probably would have been better off with snowshoes given the punch. Trench walls were midriff deep in places. Awesome. Came down on Southridge, which has had less traffic and was pretty choppy, but great winter outing nonetheless.

Total: 101 miles (11,300') 

First 100 mile week of the year. Here we go...

Week Ending Jan 29

Mon - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long.

Tues - AM: 8 miles of intervals with Jane's group at the cemetery. Workout was: mile, 3x800, mile, 3x800 on 20 second rest between 800s and 3 min before/after miles. Can't seem to get any turnover going at the moment, but it'll come: 5:25, 2:43, 2:44, 2:46, 5:22, 2:46, 2:46, 2:49.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,700') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Soderberg - Rock - Southridge - Soderberg - home long. Great dusk cruise blowing out some post-work frustrations. Starting to feel like I've found some of that early season hill-cruising fitness. We build from here.

Weds: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Soderberg - Rock - Horsetooth summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg - home long. I love the fact that we're stuck in fall-like weather. I don't think we're going to get a winter.

Thurs - AM: 13.5 miles LT. Met Sarah and Mike early for a 2x4 mile LT session on the Spring Creek bike path with 1.5 mile w-u/c-d and two mile jog between 4 milers. Goal was 5:50 pace heading east (on the subtle drop toward the plains) and 6:00 pace coming back up. Out was a total cruise: 5:58, 5:49, 5:53, 5:52; coming back up was more work than I would have liked (and I think breached the lactate threshold): 6:04, 6:01, 5:56, 5:57. Work to be done. Good job it's only January.
PM: 9 miles (1,800') Towers. Beautiful night out with no wind, so decided to try and push out a second tempo-type effort after easing into things on the lower sections of the hill. Up in 32:25 with some nasty ice up above Westridge.

Fri: 7.5 miles (1,100') easy with Brian E. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Towers - Swan Johnson - Shoreline - 38e. A dusting of snow over patches of ice made for some pretty treacherous conditions. Brian took a really bad fall on the Falls trail so we cut things short so he could get home and clean things up and, as it turned out, get stitches to the back of his head. Ouch!

Sat: 10 miles (3,000'). Blue Mountain from Pinewood Reservoir.

Sun: 20.5 miles (1,200') w/5k, 10k double at the Frost Giant in Estes Park. Warmed up with 5.5 on the 5k/10k course, raced 5k, jogged 2, raced 10k, jogged 4.

Total: 90.5 miles (11,900').

A solid week of running without really pushing myself to get out the door. Even though the mileage is a little higher than I had planned for January, it still feels very organic at this stage. I'm definitely a step or two slower than I was last year, but then this time last January I was just about ready to taper for the New Orleans Marathon. Right now I'm just enjoying the mild temperatures, the company of good friends and some new peaks and places in Larimer County.

With all that said, I have been finding the mind wandering to June in the last week or two. The question I keep asking myself is what do I need to do differently to avoid the implosion I suffered over the last 10 miles from Auburn Lake Trails to Placer High? An easier January is, I think, part of the answer, but there will be no shortcuts. There's a lot of hard work ahead and I think I'm just about ready to get started.   

On a different note, Pete and I have been blown away by the response to the Quad Rock race here in Fort Collins. The 25 miler is now full (although we do have a waiting list) and there are about 50 spots left in the 50 mile race. We're working hard to make sure we give you the best race experience we can.

Frost Giant 5k/10k Double

The Frost Giant is a fun bit of wintertime racing up in Estes Park. The morning starts late with an 11:00am kick-off for the 5k, followed by the 10k at noon. The course is a mix of road and heavy cross country, with some good hills and a high point up around 7,800 feet - so not a PR course by any stretch of the imagination.

After a lengthy warm-up and some quality standing around time, we were off to the races. Through the first mile up the hill to MacGregor Ranch we had a lead pack of four, which helped a bit with the blustery headwind. Mark Saunders I knew could win it if he was fit, Rob Kosick looked sharp, and then the guy pulling us all up the hill I didn't recognize.

Frost Giant 5k Start. All pics: Lane Eskew

On the dirt hill to the high point of the course in MacGregor Ranch, I was laboring a bit and lost a few strides on Mark and Rob, with the early leader now considerably off the pace. I was able to bridge back to Mark fairly quickly on the treacherous and clumpy cross country section, but still had a good 10-15 meters to make up on Rob. The headwind running along the Devil's Gulch fence line was fierce so the going was slow despite the downward trajectory of the course.

As we made the turn back onto the road for the last mile or so of the race, Rob, myself and Mark were equally spaced about 20 meters apart. I might have closed a bit on Rob, but never really made much of a dent. Ended up maybe 10 seconds back in 18:22 and 30 seconds back on my time from last year when I was in much better shape getting ready for a February marathon in New Orleans.

Rob with a commanding lead coming into the finish.

And now onto the 10k.

After a bit of jogging and more standing around, I was suitably stiff as the gun went off for round two of a punishing morning. Both Rob and I were slow out of the gate, content to ease into the steep hill that begins the 10k course, letting a couple of guys who were fresh lead the early going. However, after a half mile it was Rob and me off the front again, and this one essentially played out much the same as the 5k.

We ran the road together and then Rob eased into a lead on MacGregor Ranch and proceeded to hold it. The wind was blowing even harder this second time around and I was content to get some harder miles in and not blow a gasket - or an ankle - trying to get back into the race. Rob looked strong enough that I knew it probably would have been futile anyway. I crossed the line a minute or so behind Rob and two minutes back on my time from last year.

Sarah, Slush and I jogged out a further four miles after the race to cap off a full 20 miles on the morning and then it was off to the Estes Park Brewery for beers and burgers with the FoCo gang, Dana and the kids.

Post food, Dana and I took the kids up to Lily Mountain to try and sneak in a summit (it's ranked), but the trail was an ice rink so we aborted half way up, which put me at 2 for 6 on the weekend's attempted summits. Poor.

Green Mountain, Bald Mountain & Blue Mountain

The unexciting Green Mountain.

The plan for the morning was to hit five summits, four of them ranked, with the centerpiece being Blue Mountain. 

A map would have been a good idea. 

The frigid pre-dawn jog to summit 7,335' (Green Mountain) was easy enough. It was 700 feet straight up Green Mountain Road from Pinewood Lake in a little over a mile. Unfortunately there was a big house perched right on the summit. And the lights were on. I quickly ran to what looked like the highest point - maybe 100 feet from the house - turned around and headed back down the way I had come. 

 

Back on Pole Hill Road, I jogged eastward for a few hundred meters and then made a right onto another private road, which forked left (hop gate) for the quick jaunt up to my next peak, Bald Mountain (7,098' - not ranked). This one was home to a communication tower. Hmm. It did have some nice views of Blue Mountain and the Divide from the top though, and I wasn't in danger of scaring the crap out of someone enjoying their first brew of the morning from the comfort of their cozy home. But, yeah, more trespassing.

Despite the excessive trespassing, my mental map of this unfamiliar terrain was so far serving me well. Next, if memory served correct, was a retrace halfway down the service road and a spot of cross country before picking up a jeep track that would trace a line around the northeastern flank of Blue Mountain. 

Coming down off 7,098'. Longs/Meeker and Indian Peaks with west flank of Blue Mtn in the foreground

.

After what seemed like more cross country than I had remembered planning on, there was still no sign of my forest road, but I had a decent view of what I thought might be the northerly and highest point of Blue Mountain's three tops. Nonetheless, I kept forging on around the side of the mountain because I remember thinking it should have been a good mile and a half before the planned cut to the top. And then I found an old jeep track. I followed that and ran too far, eventually cutting steeply up the hill once I came to yet another gate with an intimidating KEEP OUT sign. 

I gained a slight plateau at 7,500 feet, cut across some pretty nasty terrain with plenty of thigh-deep snow drifts before seeing what looked like a summit hill across a gully which dropped a few hundred feet before its steep rise to the top. It seemed totally wrong, but I headed that way anyway. The grunt up was filled with a ton of deadfall, multiple mega posthole punch-throughs, and mental certainty that I was barking up the wrong tree ... er ... mountain. 

Blue Mountain from Bald (with another communication tower foreground). True summit: nearest; middle summit: behind; my eventual summit: not in view.

The Continental Divide from top of Blue Mountain.

That was confirmed once I was on top and had the lie of the land. Although my Highgear was reading right at the 7,888' I wanted for the Blue Mountain summit, I was clearly on the southernmost summit, which I would later find out was 14 feet lower than the northern summit (FAIL). The wind had really picked up and I was in danger of a late return home, so I decided not to bother picking my way across the ridge for the true summit, and instead cut a sketchily steep line down the cactus and mountain mahogany infested southwestern slope of Blue.

Cold and pissed off on top of Blue Mountain.

I decided not to bother with point 6930' or 7383', both of which would have required blatant bouts of trespassing with little to no cover. Rather, I put my tail between my legs and ran back to Pinewood Lake on the private ranch road that skirts Blue Mountain's westerly flank - jumping four gates along the way.

Couldn't be bothered with 6,930'

I learned two things today: 

1. Bring the bloody map.
2. This Larimer County peak-bagging project might just be a bit more trouble than it's worth with all the trespassing that it will evidently require.

Week Ending Jan 22

Mon - 3 miles (600') easy. Bench loop, home long. Snowy.

Tues - AM: 7.5 miles intervals. Met Jane's group on a very cold morning. With the ground covered in snow and ice and the thermometer reading 5 degrees, this one was just about stretching the legs and busting the holiday rust. Workout was cemetery 2x800, 2xmile, 2x800. Splits: 3:00, 2:49, 5:34, 5:33, 2:49, 2:46. 15 min w-u/c-d on either side.
PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Felt super smooth aerobically, but sore in the usual places physically. Inch of snow over top of some good stretches of ice, interspersed with dirt and packed snow. Perfect conditions for old school Yaktrax, which people love to hate, but I quite like. In these conditions they are way better than a spiked traction device which are just annoying in mixed conditions.

Weds: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Most of the snow from two days ago is essentially gone with the slightly warmer temps. Legs were heavy, but heart and lungs good.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,500') hill tempo. HTH5MO&B. Felt like I went ten rounds with Tyson out there this morning. The wind was swirling like crazy and was highly unpredictable. Rounding the last east-side dam, a massive gust picked up a bunch of gravel and raked us like we'd just been shot in the face by Dick Cheney. That one stopped me and Scott in our tracks and had us whimpering and assuming the crouching position. I think that's the worst I've seen it up there on the ridge. But at least it wasn't too cold. Not surprisingly, performance coming back suffered, despite a pretty hard effort. 39:26 out, 31:26 back (7:00, 6:19, 6:28, 6:17, 5:19). One mile c-d.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with the FCTR crowd at Pineridge.

Fri: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Tired of this wind, but as long as the mild temps stick around, I'll take it I guess.

Sat: 3 miles (1,600') hike. Alexander Mtn with Ryan.

Sun: 23.5 miles (3,500') long. Milner Mtn (6,881'), Bobcat Ridge, point 7,124' with Mike H.

Total: 76.5 miles (11,300')

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a website called Lists of John the other day. It's an invaluable resource for those into the fine art of peakbaggery, and while I'd visited it before I'd never really perused it fully. Aforementioned friend offered up a link to the 255 ranked peaks in Larimer County (where I reside), the simple act of which finds me getting a little obsessed.

Many of these 'peaks' are peaks in name only. To be ranked, a peak has to have a minimum of 300 feet of climb (or prominence) on any route from a higher peak (or sea level), a rule that means such elegant summits as Arthurs Rock and Comanche Peak are not ranked, but some random hillside above Horsetooth Reservoir is.

This all means that I find myself plotting to hike or run up totally unworthy hillsides simply to check off another ranked Larimer peak. By extension, however, this new-found obsession has also given me a much keener eye for the skyline around me. I see a peak that previously had been just another rise in the endless swell of rises that surround us here in Colorado and I want to know if it's named, what its prominence is and how I'm going to get up it.

I think I've become more familiar with the geography and topography of Larimer County in the last two weeks than I have in the last five years. And that's a good thing. I find myself plotting new routes and getting excited about totally random 8,000 foot peaks.

Anyway, enough of my peakbaggery babble.

What else? Well, we've recently secured a sponsorship from the fine folks at Cornerstone Mortgage Company (my own personal lender and all-around supporter of the Fort Collins running community) for the Quad Rock 50 in May, which now means that we're able to offer up a modest prize purse for the 50 mile race, in addition to some nice product prizes for age group winners (Pearl Izumi shoes for sure in the 50 and hopefully in the 25 too). We're also working on some really neat ideas for finishers' awards and hope to have an announcement on that soon.

I'm also excited about a new flavor of EFS Liquid Shot that Robert over at First Endurance has been working on. I sampled the Kona Mocha, as it will be called, on Sunday during my long run and really enjoyed it. Like all EFS Liquid Shot, the non-viscous nature of the gel means that it goes down easy, but best of all I really think they nailed the flavoring. The blend between coffee and chocolate doesn't leave that cloyingly sweet taste in your mouth; it just tastes good. I think this one is going to be popular. The planned launch date is March, I believe, so I'm really hoping that we'll have some to distribute at the Quad Rock in May.

And now my Larimer peak completion list (seven non-ranked, so 231 ranked boys to go!):

# of Larimer County peaks completed: 31

Name	Elevation	Prominence	Counties	Quadrangle
Hagues Peak	13,560'	2,420'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Ypsilon Mountain	13,514'	1,116'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Fairchild Mountain	13,502'	922'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Mummy Mountain	13,425'	485'	Larimer	Estes Park
McHenrys Peak	13,327'	907'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Taylor Peak	13,153'	413'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Chiquita, Mount	13,069'	283'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Hallett Peak	12,713'	733'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Comanche Peak	12,709'	209'	Larimer	Comanche Peak
Dunraven, Mount	12,571'	231'	Larimer	Estes Park
Otis Peak	12,486'	426'	Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Chapin, Mount	12,454'	434'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Flattop Mountain	12,324'	24'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Stormy Peaks	12,148'	488'	Larimer	Pingree Park
Dickinson, Mount	11,831'	171'	Larimer	Estes Park
Twin Sisters Peak East	11,428'	2,298'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Twin Sisters Peak West	11,413'	73'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Twin Sisters Mountain	11,384'	364'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Signal Mountain	11,262'	802'	Larimer	Pingree Park
Lookout Mountain	10,626'	406'	Larimer	Crystal Mountain
West White Pine Mountain	10,305'	1,445'	Larimer	Crystal Mountain
Deer Mountain	10,013'	1,073'	Larimer	Estes Park
Crosier Mountain	9,250'	1,270'	Larimer	Glen Haven
Sheep Mountain	8,450'	1,108'	Larimer	Drake
Palisade Mountain	8,264'	1,084'	Larimer	Drake
McConnel, Mount	8,020'	520'	Larimer	Big Narrows
Greyrock Mountain	7,613'	753'	Larimer	Poudre Park
Horsetooth Mountain	7,255'	595'	Larimer	Horsetooth Reservoir
Alexander Mountain	7,105'	605'	Larimer	Drake
Arthurs Rock	6,780'	80'	Larimer	Horsetooth Reservoir

Milner Mountain

6,881'

1,119'

Larimer

Masonville

Milner Mountain

Milner Mountain

Milner Mountain (6,881') is a big lump of a mountain with a good rise to the summit and a long southern ridge running for miles down to Loveland. I actually live on the northeastern flank of Milner, but have never taken the time to hoof it to the top, primarily because access requires trespassing over private property; summit included. I was told recently that the summit acreage was up for sale, so figured I'd go take a look to see if I was interested.

There's no great way to get up there from my house, but the route Mike and I chose for this very windy morning was to run the mile to the southern end of my road and then hoof to the summit saddle by way of a small drainage. Halfway up the drainage, we changed tack and decided to cut a line straight up the hillside and into the trees, which provided convenient cover for our trespassing ways, in addition to an expedited climb.

Approaching the Milner summit block

Mike with the camera looking south.

Once on top, it was a toss up as to which rock outcropping was higher, so we tagged both and then headed south to a sub summit, home to a communication tower where we were able to pick up a convenient private service road that headed all the way down to the valley between Milner and Green Ridge (Bobcat Ridge). From there we ran out to the Bobcat Ridge trailhead, completed the 11-mile outer loop with a quick summit detour of an unranked, but sightly peak (7,124') above Mahoney Park on the way.

Milner right, Horsetooth left, ugly mug breaking up the view in the middle.

Heading up we thought it might be Green Ridge - a ranked Larimer County peak - but unfortunately, it was quite evident from our vantage point once atop the summit that we were a peak too far to the south. Not to worry, Green Ridge is easily bagged and can be done so in concert with Spruce Mountain to the west for a good two-bag outing some time here in the near future.

Coming off peak 7,214', we found a decent game trail down through a gully, which hooked back into the DR trail and the traditional Bobcat loop. We finished off our figure eight route by hitting Buckhorn/38e roads for the 5 mile climb back up to my house. All told, we were about 23-24 miles on the morning, with two fun and unusual summits, a fierce lashing on Bobcat Ridge from the strong northwesterly wind, and some quality time-on-feet base building.